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Show J I Octooer Page fjve Legal Aid, Legal Services offer free counsel according to national standards by considering his number of dependents and financial status. The Salt Lake office's jurisdictional area consists of Salt Lake County, Tooele County and the southern portion of Davis County. The national Legal Aid Society was organized by D.A. Skeene in 1922 following the example of the Harvard Legal Aid Society. It was originally financed by the Lions Club, and then by the Community Chest. When the United Appeal took over the Community Chest it continued to fund the society and still does. The Salt Lake office has existed for 17 years and is presently staffed full-time by Mr. William C. Shelton, a University Law School graduate, and part-time by Mr. Richard B. Woolley, also a University graduate. These men have a heavy case load -over 2,000 per year. The cases are referred to them by judges, other lawyers, other clients, and social workers. The work is strenuous and demanding, but "of course, you get the satisfaction of helping these people," says Mr. Shelton. Current cases are typified by several ' gyr MILT BRASELTON t Chronicle Staff f , thpv have watched Chicano- ' U" fd soap operas in the L.A. area, ' "f a thp "ludge Parker" comic strip in flile or read Abbie Hoffman's - Ll this book", most University students robably unaware of the free legal aid 2f available in Salt Lake City. tw services are mostly available to h e "poor" students who are supporting ' 0Lves on below-average income. The I the? m are administered by the 2 financed Legal Aid Society and I Cubliclv-financed Salt Lake County Bar c: Legal Services, Inc. The Legal Aid Society, which is sponsored t: , ,he united Fund, renders legal services civil matters to people of impecunious 1 means but they don't have to necessarily 1 be welfare cases. Its offices are located in 1 ,he Atlas Bldg. at 36-12 W. 2nd So. and t be contacted by calling 328-8849 . Wween 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, f when an individual calls he will be asked J tocome in for an interview where it will be ' determined if he is elegible to be assisted, eviction appeals, auto gyps where dealers tailed to service cars properly, divorces (several involving women who want to divorce homosexuals who married them as a cover), and child support cases involving people who have moved out-of-state. As Mr. Shelton declares, "You have heard that fact is queerer than fiction, but you don't realize how much queerer until you work in a service agency such as this." Located across the street from the County Library at 216 E. 5th South are the storefront offices of the Salt Lake County Bar Legal Services. It is a non-profit corporation funded by the Office of Economic Opportunity, which, like the Legal Aid Society, handles only civil matters, but with the exception of juvenile criminal cases. Its aim is to represent those citizens who never before were represented or only received minimal representation. Its organizational objectives are (1) administer ad-minister the daily case load, (2) initiate and assist law reform, and (3) help improve community relations. A person seeking the assistance of this agency may call 328-8891, but will have to i - come in to see if he qualifies under federal guidelines. If he does, he is assigned for an initial interview to an attorney specializing in the problem. The Legal Services office aids people living in Salt Lake County. Cases which it is currently handling involve divorces, landlord and tenant disputes, bankruptcies bankrupt-cies hearings before regulatory commissions com-missions (to secure Social Security payments, etc.), welfare and defense for candidates at commitment hearings. It also does draft counseling. The Salt Lake County Bar Legal Services office was established in 1966 after Congress passed the OEO Act of 1965. With six attorneys, four clerks and several secretaries, the new storefront offices are quickly becoming overcrowded. The four clerks are University Law School students who are interning. Barney Cesas, one of the clerks, comments, com-ments, "working in this office is exciting. We receive a large scope of cases." He also points out a fact that may seem a glaring deficiency to those who are concerned with public services: "One of the largest areas where there is no public counsel available are criminal misdemeanors." |